The Hidden Courtyard - Simrin Mehra-Agarwal

The Hidden Courtyard - Simrin Mehra-Agarwal

The Hidden Courtyard - Simrin Mehra-Agarwal

1X1 Art Gallery in association with JAMM Art and Empty 10 will host an exhibition, curated by Caterina Corni, of paintings, digital works, drawings and installations by young Indian artist Simrin Mehra-Agarwal. The private viewing will take place at 7 pm on Sunday 22 September 2013 conjointly at JAMM Art Gallery and Empty 10 located in Al Quoz, Dubai. Simrin Mehra-Agarwal’s work bears one of the most interesting characteristics on the panorama of emerging contemporary art: the perfect balance between tradition and modernity. Originally from Kolkata, she completed her studies both in India and in Europe. Indeed, it was on the basis of this training that she developed her own highly personal language, used to conjoin two apparently opposite realities. Simrin makes Western teachings her own without breaking away from her original roots, and without falling foul of the ever-enticing trappings of emulation. Observing – filtering – re-elaborating Her works speak of a time gone by, through a language which manages to bring different worlds and cultures together harmoniously. The black and white light boxes feature architectural glimpses, buildings gone to ruin. The sharp contrast, the choice of framing and the minuteness of detail remind us of etchings by Piranesi. The works stress the development of shapes: from their ideal form to their ultimate deterioration. For ruins still show signs of life. That which is most striking in the spectacle of ruins is their ability to provide the sense of time without summing up history and without concluding it in the illusion of knowledge. White – paper works: handmade paper produced in the Sicilian countryside in which the mechanical element à la Francis Picabia comes together with the organic, thus evocating all the iconography of 19th century herbaria. Life – Femininity Simrin investigates the memory of life through the places of her childhood, and she observes complementary aspects arising between man-made objects and the miracle of nature, transposing the connections between feminine memories and those of the places she belongs to. Through her own language, Simrin sets free and reveals the indivisible bond between inner landscapes (self-built) and outer ones (concrete spaces where she has lived over her life). Simrin’s works place emphasis on the journey of forms: from their ideation to their final decay, for ruins still show signs of life. The most striking aspect of this display of ruins is their ability to give a sense to time without summarizing history or trying to reach conclusions. They are memories without a past. The women who feature in her memory are also bearers of an age-old message of dignity and pride, ‘biologically’ inherited by their daughters and granddaughters, now the new guardians of such values. Her works transforms the deterioration of modernity and represents it as a propitiatory ritual for a humanistic vision looking towards a New Culture. – Caterina Corni